Devotional Materials. Week Commencing Sunday 15th August 2021
Call to Worship
The Apostle Peter on the Day of Pentecost said “Repent then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you- even Jesus.” (Acts 3:19, 20)
“If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” (John 14:3).
This morning we continue with our series “The Second Coming of Christ”, and specifically what will happen when he returns. Our opening hymn reminds us ‘One day he’s coming: O glorious day.’
Opening Hymn (Keyboards)
‘One day when heaven was filled with his praises.’ MP 5401
J Wilbur Chapman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hTeEYpcy9Q
(1 If you receive these notes at home and would like a hymn book please let me know)
Opening Prayer
Peter called the crowds to repentance and to receive the gift of Salvation offered to us in Christ:
‘Almighty God, our Father, we come to you with humble hearts, to confess our sins: for turning away from you and ignoring your will for our lives. For behaving just as we wish, without thinking of you. For failing you- not only by what we do, but also by our thoughts and words. For letting ourselves be drawn away from you by temptations in the world about us. And for acting as if we were ashamed to belong to your Son, Jesus: father, forgive us these things, save us and help us.
Lord, we thank you for the gift of Salvation. For forgiveness of sins. For adoption into your family. For making us heirs of a wonderful inheritance kept in heaven for us. You are the giver of every gift; spiritual and material. But the gifts themselves cannot take your place. We recognise you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you. Teach us to offer ourselves to your service, that here we may have your peace and in the world to come, may see you face to face; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Item
Keith Green enjoyed a strong singer/songwriter ministry. His songs are saturated with devotion to God, a radical discipleship. His energies and finance were engaged in encouraging the church to mission.
He was struck by the promises concerning Christ’s return and he made every effort to prepare others. ‘Summer Snow’ was written to sound an alarm. He wrote “We need to be ready. Jesus can come back at any time for us personally. And one day he will appear in the clouds and we will be caught up with him.” Let’s listen to this song. Meditate on it. This song speaks of Christ’s return personally- after we have died. It also speaks of Christ’s Second Coming. It is poignant because Green died shortly after- a young man of just twenty seven years of age:
‘Summer Snow’ (Recording through PA)
Unexpectedly
You came back to see
If I was waiting
Like I promised long before
your shadow filled the room
The music changed its tune
When I saw you
You were standing at the door
Like summer snow
You were an unexpected sight
A blazing sun
You came shining in the night
Well, I really should have known
That you'd be coming home.
I waited patiently
I found it hard to see
If you were coming
Why was there such a long delay
At times I thought you lied
Or else you would have tried
To let me know
That you were coming home today
Like summer snow
It falls around me in the cold
I can hear the echoes
Of the warnings I was told.
That I should know
That you'd be coming home, home
Home, home
Like summer snow
You were an unexpected sight
A blazing sun
You came shining in the night
Well, I really should have known
That you'd be coming home, home
Home, home
Unexpectedly
You came back to see
Keith Green
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DHwHZMIFTk
Prayers
Come Lord Jesus
Come as King
Rule in our hearts
Come as love
Rule in our minds
Come as peace
Rule in our actions,
Come as power
Rule in our days
Come as joy
Rule in our darkness
Come as light
Rule in our bodies,
Come as health
Rule in our labours,
Come as hope
Thy kingdom come
Among us.
O Lord we remember the ill and the unhappy. We ask you to be with those who have few friends. We ask you to heal those who are ill and to comfort those in pain; help them to trust you and give them strength to get better, through the power of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done; on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.
O God, who has given us the sure promise that Christ will come to judge the earth; make us ready, we pray, for his royal coming, that we may consider daily what kind of people we want to be, and as faithful servants wait and work for our Master’s return; for his name’s sake. Amen.
Reading. 1 Thessalonians 4: 13-18. Mrs Jackie Peacock
Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.
Therefore encourage one another with these words.
Hymn (Keyboards)
‘There is a day’ 1115 MP
Nathan Fellingham
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dPJQ8Jve1E
Sermon. The second Coming of Christ. Part 3
The second coming of Christ is a clear biblical truth. The Bible teaches beyond question that Jesus Christ will return to earth. All writers in the New Testament look forward to the second coming of Christ. They believed he was coming again because he said so: ‘For the Son of Man is going to come in His Father’s glory with His angels, and then He will reward each person according to what he has done’ (Matt.16:27).
Even as the Lord’s disciples watched Jesus ascend into heaven, angels said to them: ‘Men of Galilee…why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen Him go into heaven’ (Acts 1: 10, 11)
Over the last two weeks we looked at the timing of Christ’s return. We saw that essentially the time of the second coming of Christ is unknown. The signs of the end times were given not to argue dates, but to warn and to strengthen faith. When such things happen- and some of the signs are being fulfilled in our generation- we can be assured that God hasn’t lost control or that His plan has gone off course. But the better is to come ‘look up your redemption draws near’.
The final signs heralding Christ’s return describe the darkening of the sun and moon and other cataclysmic events in the heavens. There will be pitch darkness but then brilliant light. The glory of Christ and His return.
So what will happen when Christ returns?
Every EYE shall see him. ‘As lightening that comes from the East is visible even in the West, so will be the coming of the Son of man.’ (Matt.24:27)
Every EAR will hear him. 1 Thessalonians 4:6 ‘The Lord himself will come down from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and the trumpet call of God and the dead in Christ will rise first.’
The Bible paints a glorious picture of Christ’s return. ‘They will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory (Matt.24:30)
Jesus first coming took place in relative obscurity. Even when he was rejected and crucified, the Roman historian Tacitus described events in Palestine at that time by writing ‘Under Tiberius all was quiet’. But Christ’s second coming will be universally public, glorious and triumphant. The resurrection of the dead will take place. And then the total transformation of all believers, and God will receive His people. These things are described in our passage (particularly verses 13-18)
Resurrection (v.13, 14)
Paul reinforces the point of our resurrection hope as Christians. Those who have died have fallen asleep. Death is not the end. Rather, Jesus died and rose again. God raised Jesus from death so a trail has been blazed for those who have faith in Christ to follow. Jesus raised from death is ‘the guarantee that those who sleep in death will also be raised’ (1Corin.15:20). John’s Gospel records how Jesus responded to the grief of his 2 sisters when Lazarus died: ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me will live even though they die, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die’. (John 11:25, 26). It is God ‘who will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him’ (1 Thess4:14).
That does raise a question? Where are the dead now?
That’s the question the Thessalonians were asking. What about those of their number who had already died? Where were they now? It’s here in verse 14 that Paul intimates where those who have died in Christ presently are. He says in the last part of verse 14: “…we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in Him”. Remember Paul is going on to speak about Christ’s return. So he is saying those who have already died- those who have “fallen asleep in Him”- are those whom Jesus will bring with Him at His second coming. Believers who have died are with the Lord already! They are presently with God and will come back with Jesus when he returns again. They haven’t missed out- in fact they are enjoying God’s presence now. When believers die their spirits go directly to God and God will cause them to come along with Jesus when He returns: “God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in Him”.
It’s important we understand that a believer’s spirit goes to be with the Lord when they die. Death is a temporary separation of spirit and body. Once a believer has died, though his or her physical body remains on earth and is buried, at the moment of death the soul or spirit of that believer goes immediately into the presence of God with great rejoicing. Paul says in 2 Cor. 5; 8 “We would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord”. To be away from the body is to be at home with the Lord. He also says in Philippians 1:23 his desire is “to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better”. The author of Hebrews says that when we Christians come together to worship we come not only into the presence of God in heaven, but also into the presence of “the spirits of just men made perfect” (Hebrews 12:23) Similarly in Hebrews 12 the author encourages us to run the race of life with perseverance because we are surrounded by this “great cloud of witnesses”. He is referring to Old Testament heroes of faith who are now with the Lord and it seems cheering us on. 2
Once we understand that a believer’s spirit goes to be with the Lord, and God will bring their spirits along with Jesus when He comes again, we have a key to understanding the rest of our passage. Because later in verse 16 we are told that “the dead in Christ will rise first”. Now on the surface of things that is a problem! If the dead in Christ have come back with Jesus when He returns, how can they also be the same people who will be raised from their graves? That’s a problem isn’t it! But they are the same people! And the solution is this: The spirits of those who have died and gone to be with Christ will come back with Him and they will be joined with their new resurrected bodies on that day, and then ascend to be with Christ. Remember that death separated the spirit and the body, but at Christ’s second coming they will be perfectly reunited; spirit and new body. Remember too that that transformation will be instantaneous: Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:51, 52 “I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed”.
“We shall be changed” Resurrection also includes transformation. “He will change our lowly bodies to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him to make all things subject to himself” (Phil.3:21). The resurrection body of Jesus is the design/pattern for the resurrection bodies of his followers. When Jesus rose from the dead he was not a ghost. Nor was he his old body returned to life. His body was transformed. Suitable for eternity. It was a different body and yet still the same Jesus.
It will be the same for us. Paul describes how we too shall be transformed in 1 Cor.15. He uses the image of a seed and the resulting plant to emphasise that there is real continuity between the person who dies and the person raised up. There is continuity and yet also real contrasts since the new will be superior to what has been: ‘The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body.’ (1 Cor.15:42-44). We don’t know how God does this. But God is all powerful; all that now exists in the universe was brought into being out of nothing by God’s power. We know by this same power he will raise and transform us.
So when Christ returns we have this wonderful picture (v.17 of our passage) of the Lord returning- with the spirits of those who have already died- and gathering all his people. All believers who have ever lived and those living at that time will be reunited- “caught up together”- to meet the Lord in the air. In an instant all will receive their new resurrection bodies. This being caught up to be with the Lord has come to be known as the “rapture”. (The English word “rapture” is derived from the latin “rapere” and corresponds to the greek verb “harpazo” Paul uses here.) Believers will be “caught up” or “seized”-raptured- there is a sense of suddenness and violence in it. The rapture speaks of divine power transforming believers’ bodies and then sweeping them upwards to unite them with Christ!
Now, do you realise that you will be there too! I suppose I had a general idea before I studied this passage that only those believers who were around when Christ returned would get taken up to be with Him, may be that’s what you thought too. But whether we have died before Christ returns or whether he returns in our lifetime, Paul’s teaching is clear- all believers will share in the rapture. Both those who have died in Christ before his coming and those alive on earth at that time. The Lord in splendour and power will resurrect, transform and receive his people.
But for others the second coming of Christ will mark a time of judgement and rejection.
The Bible describes a Day of Judgement (Romans 9; 27 “Man is destined to die once and after that to face judgement”). There has to be a day of judgment. Consider the injustice of this life. It’s so unfair that the wicked prosper and the innocent suffer. ‘Most crimes are undetected and unpunished. There appears little correlation between personal character and circumstance, integrity and prosperity, holiness and happiness. Instinct demands a time when good is rewarded and evil punished’ (D. Pawson)
The justice and holiness of God demands a day of judgement. If God never righted the wrongs he has permitted then his goodness is in question. The King of the universe must also be judge. Galatians 6:7 says ‘God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.’ If that is true then there must come a day of reckoning when all wrongs are righted and debts must be paid!
God is holy, and he is just.
Our justice is partial, but God’s justice is impartial. True justice must be dispensed to all. That’s the nub. We are all sinners, we all fall short of God’s glory. So it is not a question of comparing ourselves with one another. Rather we must measure our sin debt in relation to God Himself. By this measure clearly all deserve God’s judgement and punishment for their sins.
In addition the human race is already in a state of rebellion, we ‘suppress the truth’ of God as Creator for example (Romans 1:18ff, see also 14/6/20 Update/Appendix) and rebel against His moral law because we want to ‘justify our sin’ (see 21/6/20 Update/Appendix). We are already on the wrong road (Romans 3:23). The picture is of us on a motorway, in desperate need of an exit road at the side, onto which we can transfer, and find safety.
As things stand God’s justice and our rebellion means that motorway can only end in one place. The Bible speaks of Hell; a place to be shunned. (Egs Matt.25:30, 41, 46; Mark 9:43, 48, Luke 16:22-28, Phil.3:19, Rev.14:9-11). An eternal destination ‘where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched’. Some descriptions such as ‘weeping and gnashing of teeth’ speak of great regret.
God has provided the very escape route from hell that we need at great and painful cost to Himself. Not only does the array of sins levelled against the Son of God at the cross expose our own sin and rebellion, it also reveals how serious our plight is if it takes the Son of God going to a cross as the only way by which we can be saved. That is saved from going to hell as well as saved for forgiveness of sins and the gift of eternal life. If there was any other way God would have provided it, but it had to be this way such is the seriousness of our condition.
Through the cross God has done everything necessary to bring us to Himself, and to safety. One writer has put it this way: ‘The remarkable fact is not that our rejection of God will lead to death and separation from Him. Rather that God should ever have taken such measures to fulfil His own justice and restore to us what we lost through our own fault.’ (For Christ’s sacrifice fulfilling both justice and mercy see illustrations in Updates 10/4/20, 5/7/20.) Every day we live on this planet is a day of God’s grace and we have opportunity to leave our hell bound course. We can choose to do so simply through humbly repenting of our sin and putting our faith in Christ for salvation. His salvation is won at great cost to Himself, but freely offered to us (e.g. ‘the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord’ Romans 6:23).
In His generosity God has created us with free will. We are not robots or even animals merely acting on instinct, He made us in His image and gave us the ability to make real choices which bring real repercussions- whether for good or ill. The most important choice we make before we die is to make sure we are ready to meet God. We need to know that we are going to heaven. To know that all our sins are forgiven. But God cannot forgive those who refuse to repent; who spurn His mercy and grace in the gift of salvation He holds out to them.’ Chesterton wrote ‘Hell is God’s tribute to the freedom He gave each of us to choose whom we should serve’. How can we expect to have everything to do with Christ in the next life, when we have completely ignored Him in this? Ultimately that is the sin that will take a person to destruction. If we ignore Christ’s dying love for us, then we shall miss the one way of safety He has provided in Himself.3
God is not first in the judgement business, but the forgiveness business. These verses from John’s Gospel put it exactly: 16 ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him’ (John 3:16, 17). Salvation is offered. Will you receive it today?
As we have already seen the Lord will resurrect, transform and receive his people, but we too will have to give account to Christ. This giving account won’t be because of condemnation for sin. Rather, because we have trusted in Christ we will be justified and discharged at God’s judgement seat. ‘Therefore since we have been justified through faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ’ (Romans 5:1)
Our judgment will be in terms of reward not condemnation (Rom.5:1; 8:1; 1 Cor.3:8, 14) Christians will be rewarded on account of their faithfulness to Christ. Reward for their good deeds and love for brothers and sisters; these are signs of their living faith. Bruce Milne comments ‘Our judgement will be in respect of our stewardship of the gifts, talents, opportunities and responsibilities given in this life. It will be a Fatherly judgement. Having all of a Father’s understanding and compassion.’ This fatherly judgement will be exercised by the Lord at his coming.
And believers will be with Christ for all eternity:
All God’s purposes are moving towards what the Bible calls ‘a new heaven and a new earth’ for his people. We have only a poor reflection of what that entails but there are certain things revealed to us about what this life to come will be like:
God’s reign will mean celebration: a party! God himself will be the host/ people from the East and West will take their seats at the feast. There will be worship; excitement; dancing! There will be a wedding celebration between Christ and his bride, the Church.
We will be home. This home is prepared by a loving father who wants to be with us. Sometimes we feel a sort of homesickness for God’s presence while we are still here in this world. That will be fully satisfied then. In this life we can get a certain joy and satisfaction from relationships but this will be fully realised in our new home. We will still be distinct individuals and we will be reunited with and recognise our loved ones. We will be part of a richly varied community. We will experience the fullness of life for which God designed us; a perfection in our relationship with God and one another and our environment. The hallmark of our life to come will be JOY. Supremely because we are in God’s presence ‘You will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.’ (Psalm 16:11). We will be home.
“Now the dwelling of God is with men and he will live with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain. For the old order of things has passed away” (Revelation.21:4). Such is God’s love and goodness. Bonhoeffer. Pastor executed by the Nazis in 1945. “This is the end. For me, the beginning of life”
One day when George MacDonald, the great Scottish preacher and writer, was talking with his son, the conversation turned to heaven and the prophet’s version of the end of all things. ‘It seems too good to be true’ the son said at one point. A smile crossed MacDonald’s whiskered face. ‘Nay’, he replied, ‘It is just so good it must be true’.
………………………………………………
2 The fact that believers go immediately into God’s presence means there is no such thing as purgatory. In Roman Catholic teaching, purgatory is the place where the souls of believers go to be further purified from sin until they are admitted into heaven.
The fact that souls of believers go immediately into God’s presence means that the doctrine of “soul sleep” is also incorrect. This doctrine teaches that when believers die they go into a state of unconscious existence, and the next thing they are conscious of will be when Christ returns and raises them to eternal life. Now it is true Scripture sometimes refers to people sleeping when they die but this is merely a metaphorical expression to teach that death is temporary just as sleep is temporary. The references we have looked at indicate that once believers die their spirits do not drift into an “unconscious” state but instead they go immediately to be with God in heaven where they enjoy fellowship with Him. As Jesus said to the thief who was dying on a cross next to him, “Today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). (Paradise is simply another name for heaven.)
3 But we ask- what of those who die with no faith? My father never prayed. My Grandfather never opened a Bible as far as I know. What of them? But we might then ask ourselves- “How do we know they didn’t pray?” No one knows what a person’s final thoughts are in this life. Are you sure this person did not bend their knee to the Lord at the last. Isn’t it possible that a person staring into the face of death would cry out to the Lord for mercy? The Lord Jesus has shown His great love for us at the cross. The Father gave up His one and only Son for us all. And so when a person cries out for mercy as death approaches, does the Lord resist such a person? No. He couldn’t on Calvary. The thief on the cross was hanging there for his crime. He was a sinner. But he was repentant. He cried to the Lord for mercy there and then, and the Lord heard his confession and accepted it (Luke 23:39-43). The thief’s sins were forgiven. Maybe you never heard your loved one confess Christ, but who’s to say Christ didn’t? We don’t know the final thoughts of a dying soul, but we know that God loves deeply and has done and will do all that is possible in the name of grace and mercy to rescue. He is “not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).
For further reading please see The Goodness of God by John Wenham, ‘The Great Divorce’ C S Lewis and Systematic Theology (Chapt.56) by Wayne Grudem.
………………………………………………………………………………
Communion Hymn (keyboards)
‘Here is love vast as the ocean.’ 987 MP
William Rees
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUrRHUf2b_0
Communion
Hymn (Keyboards)
‘See what a morning’ 1105 MP
Stuart Townend
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNNhzjwTYKk
Benediction
The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face towards you and give you peace.
David Barnes 10/8/21